Oslo City Court Confirms to Sergei Magnitsky’s Family that Anti-Magnitsky Propaganda Film Will Not Be Shown

June 7, 2016

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate distribution

Oslo City Court Confirms to Sergei Magnitsky’s Family that Anti-Magnitsky Propaganda Film Will Not Be Shown

7 June 2016 – The widow and mother of late Sergei Magnitsky have been informed by the Oslo City Court that the Norwegian film festival, Kortfilmfestivalen, has removed the anti-Magnitsky film from its 9-10 June 2016 program, following the family’s application for court injunction.

“The filmmakers have acted negligently when they decided to put forward such defamation on a clearly deficient factual basis.Kortfilmfestivalen must be identified with the notion of negligence when it has not made the factual investigation of the allegation in the film,” said the injunction application filed by Carl Bore, lawyer for the Magnitsky family.

The Oslo City Court accepted the injunction application on Monday, 6 June 2016, and set the oral hearing date for Wednesday, 8 June 2016. However, at a preliminary hearing today, 7 June 2016, the Kortfilmfestivalen announced that they will not show the film by Andrei Nekrasov.

Judge Henning Kristiansen signed the transcript of the proceeding, which confirms that the festival will not show the film in any version.

“Magnitsky Act shall not be shown at the festival, neither in whole or in part, nor in any version. This also covers other versions included in the current film project,” says the court protocol signed by the judge.

“No public interest dictates spreading of an untrue and grossly defamatory film of this nature. As previously mentioned, defamation in the film includes the “acquittal” of Russian authorities for gross corruption and serious human rights violations in the Magnitsky case. The public is not well served by disinformation,” said the Magnitsky family in their injunction application.

The Magnitsky family first wrote to the Kortfilmfestivalen on Monday, 30 May 2016, asking the festival to remove the film from the program because of its false and defamatory content. The letter from the Magnitsky family was supported by numerous documents and evidence demonstrating the falsity of film’s allegations. However, Norwegian Kortfilmfestivalen refused to disassociate themselves from the film, and maintained the film in the program for 9-10 June 2016.

Because of the festival’s refusal, the Magnitsky family had to apply to the Norwegian court seeking an injunction. The injunction application was filed on behalf of the Magnitsky family and William Browder, leader of Magnitsky justice movement, with the Oslo City Court on Monday, 6 June 2016. The festival only announced that it would withdraw the film from the program after they had been taken to court. However, Kortfilmfestivalen simultaneously asserted on its website that it “continues to support Piraya Film and Nekrasov in their desire to finish this film project,” apparently being unmoved by the pain and distress their actions have caused Sergei Magnitsky’s widow and mother.

Kortfilmfestivalen is run with funding from the Norwegian state, Aust-Agder county and Grimstad municipality.

Previously, the anti-Magnitsky film by Andrei Nekrasov was withdrawn from broadcast by the European Parliament, French TV station ARTE and German TV station ZDF.

The anti-Magnitsky film was directed by Andrei Nekrasov and produced by a Norwegian film company, Piraya Film AS.PirayaFilm AS is co-owned by Norwegians Bjarte Mørner Tveit and Torstein Grude, who also serve as Piraya Film’s CEO and Chairman respectively, with a further 10% owned by Sobra AS, a real estate company belonging to Find Gjedebo, according to the Norwegian corporate registry.

Sergei Magnitsky, Hermitage’s lawyer who uncovered the US$230 million fraud and testified about the complicity of Russian officials in it, was falsely arrested, detained for 358 days without trial, tortured and killed in Russian police custody at the age of 37. The events of this case are described in the New-York Times best-seller “Red Notice. How I Became Putin’s No 1 Enemy” by William Browder, leader of the global Magnitsky justice movement, and in a series of campaign videos on Youtube channel “Russian Untouchables.” Recently, thanks to Panama Papers, proceeds of US$230 million fraud uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, were traced to Swiss account of a company owned by Sergei Roldugin, a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.